King Gizzard covered the topic of crying a few years before Nonagon Infinity with the Cook-led song appropriately titled “Crying.” While he sang a simple tale of heartbreak, the band went a different way in 2016. “Wah Wah” is the most overtly satanic thing on Nonagon Infinity with images of hoofed beasts and bats from Hell. Instead of crying tears of sadness, this song is about tears of fear, pain and desperation. It’s also, in a way, a tribute to the wah-wah pedal — a guitar effect that features heavily both on this song and throughout King Gizzard’s discography. While not as iconic as other Nonagon tracks, “Wah Wah” is the occult core of the album, making it clear that the world King Gizzard presents isn’t just chaotic but demonic as well.
While Nonagon Infinity songs often had working titles, “Wah Wah” always remained the same, though there were some ideas to change the title due to the George Harrison song of the same name. Stu said to Flavorwire “I’m a Harrison fan, so there was always that in the back of my head. The rough title was always ‘Wah Wah,’ because that’s kind of like what it keeps saying, and it keeps crying, and it’s got a wah pedal. So the rough title was always ‘Wah Wah.’ The whole time, I was worrying about changing the name, or changing the chorus, but it just never happened.”
The earliest known performance of the song was at the Happy Dog in Cleveland, Ohio on 2015-06-14. The song appeared as the second in the show and was different from the studio version in a few ways, such as opening with Stu playing the main riff with some accompaniment on hi-hat before going to the first chorus. Early in their lifespans, most Nonagon Infinityhad different, if not improvised lyrics. “Wah Wah” is nearly impossible to make out, with Stu seeming to fall on different noises and words to fit the melody. After this show it wouldn’t appear until ten days later on 2015-06-24 at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY. The solo intro is still there and the lyrics have started to settle in but have a distinct space setting compared to the demonic imagery to come (“you can see the Earth is moving, underneath the starship moving…”). The next performance would be two months later on 2015-08-28 and would be the last time played in 2018 to our knowledge. This version and some rehearsal footage would be included in the documentary BOOTLEG HOLIDAY FROM HELL.
After an eighty show gap, “Wah Wah” would return at The Triffid in Brisbane on 2016-06-25 next to its partner track “Road Train.” “Wah Wah” was mainly recorded at Daptone Records in Brooklyn by Wayne Gordon with vocals recorded by Michael Badger in his bungalow. It was released as part of Nonagon Infinity on April 28th, 2016. The song’s main riff is quoted at the end of “Invisible Face” right before the song is fully played. It’s also the first in their discography to feature zurna.
Just like all songs on Nonagon Infinity it was meant to have a music video as part of the Nonagon Infinity movie that was never finished. We can see a remnant of the project in the music video for “Invisible Face”, where the song’s title is spelled out in clay. According to a post on Jason Galea’s Instagram, the show poster for 2019-08-26 features shots from the video with the pixel art style being added on. While the video didn’t pan out, the song would reappear in the studio one final time during the intro of “Acarine”, where the verse’s vocal melody is played on bass. Some have also noted its similarity to the melody of “Butterfly 3000” with some distinctions.
The track was paired frequently with “Road Train” throughout 2016 as the band toured for Nonagon Infinity, and featured teases of “The River” during most performances. Yet for as frequently as it was played, the band completely dropped the track in 2017, along with its follow-up song “Road Train.” It came back to the band’s repertoire on 2018-06-20 at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta and was once again played extensively. While the song would sometimes be paired with Nonagon material, it was also being paired with “The River.” In these versions “The River” would end after the second section and head into a mid-tempo groovy jam which would lead to the main riff of “Wah Wah.”
Going into 2019 the song would be paired with “Road Train”, while also joining an iconic three song suite of “The River" > “Wah Wah” > “Road Train.” Other times the song would be played alone with a tease of “The River” at the beginning — though it often incorporated more teases at the end of the song. This rendition appeared in the 2020 concert film/album Chunky Shrapnel. The song would be played in both formations at two shows in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic would shut down the touring industry. That said, “Wah Wah” couldn’t be killed. On “Garage Rock Night” (2021-12-22) during the band’s unfortunately incomplete Princess Theatre residency, the song returned as a standalone track, disappearing again until 2022-04-26 at the Gundlach-Bundschu Winery in Sonoma, CA.
By this point “Wah Wah” was anything they wanted it to be. It could be played on its own, it could be paired with a track, or it could be an important part of a three song suite. It could even be “The River” > “Wah Wah” > “The River” > “Wah Wah” > “Road Train” like on 2022-10-16. The song’s constantly changing placement continues to this day. On 2023-06-12 the song was played after the first full performance of “Invisible Face,” making the album sequence of “Invisible Face” > “Wah Wah” > “Road Train.” While many of the Nonagon tracks have easy to guess sequences, you can never quite know with this song.